Time for a Civics Test
November 20th, 2008 by Steven GardnerPut away your notes, your pencils, your Ipods and anything you could use to cheat. It’s time for a civics test.
If I had done poorly on this test, I promise I would have let you know about this anyway. As it is, I got 32 out of 33 right, 96.97 percent. Honestly, I was shocked that I only missed one, because I guessed on a few. I’ve always been good at multiple choice.
The site reports that the national average is 49 percent and that college educators only get about 55 percent right. Surely, readers of the Kitsap Caucus would fare better than the rest of the yokels taking this on. Prove me right. Share your score with the rest of us.
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Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
November 20th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
That was fun, Steve,
I got 24 out of the 33 right, for 72.73 percent, where 78.2 is average. If I had gone with my first instinct in some, I would have gotten more right. I am ashamed of getting some of them wrong.
I missed the questions about the Bill of Rights, the unconstitutional parts of the New Deal, the first amendment, the Puritans, separation between church and state, business profit, flood control levees, and fiscal policies to stimulate the economy.
Emilie
Port Orchard, WA
November 20th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Good set of quesions. I got 30-33 for 90.91
November 20th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I’m sorry to say I did poorly…21 out of 33 correctly — 63.64 %
November 20th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I was second guessing myself on some and also only got 21 out of 33 correct (63.64%). Like Emilie said I should have gone with my initial pick on a couple of them.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
87.88 percent. Missed #10, 13, 29, and 33.
Regards,
Kathryn Simpson
November 20th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I missed …#4 – #6 -#8 – #9 – #10 – #13 – #14 – #15 -#22 – #31 – #32 – #33 –
Shameful…
November 20th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Kitsap Sun Sounding Board member Harry Gilger scored 29 out of 33 for 87.88 percent.
November 20th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Arrgghhh!! I should have cheated and “Googled” the “anti-federalists” to see how their efforts affected the writing of the constitution.
November 20th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I missed two. 31/33
November 20th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Hey Kathryn: When I’m getting my butt handing to me, let me go over to Steven’s blog and hide out. That’s admirable.
November 21st, 2008 at 10:12 am
Hey Karen, show me where there is a Kitsap Sun rule that states a person can’t post on more than one blog at a time…
It is much more admirable to walk away than it is to continue an argument that is not changing what either party thinks and is getting overheated in too personal of a way.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:44 am
I got 29 out of 33. Missed 4, 14, 27, and 30.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I’m in great company…thanks smart people!
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I outright knew the answer on 24 of them and logically deduced 3 of them (82%). On the other 6, I luckily made 5 good guesses between 2 options on each.
I thought the most difficult would be #13, the one about Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and Aquinas. The inclusion of Aquinas gave me the right answer.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
The site reports that the national average is 49 percent and that college educators only get about 55 percent right.
Elected officials score lower than the general public. Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test.
I’m going to become a college educator as my second career. I’m going to have to hold off on my run for an elected office for now and do it in the winter of my years here in the turning of our earth.
Thank you Steve for the direction that this has provided me for what to do with my remaining years.
Yeah, I didn’t do too great, but, good enough to not be knocked out of the running for becoming a college educator!
Fran Lawrence
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I read an article on the test in the national news. It said it was given to 2500 people at random to establish the averages. Of those that stated the were “elected officials”, the average score was 44%, even less than the 49% average score for the general population.
“Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to “supervise the first televised presidential debates.”"
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:02 am
And wouldn’t you know it, elected officials universally think they are smarter than the voters that elect them.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
Universally, Larry? Ouch. ;=)
Come on, now. Lets not generalize quite so broadly, please. I scored nearly double the average for elected officials but don’t believe I’m any smarter than the average voter. What distinguishes me from the average voter is not brainpower (a few other bloggers will concur with that, **smile**). It is a willingness to get involved in political issues more than the average voter and drill down on the details more than the average voter.
That being said, on the flip side, there are folks whom I admire so deeply because they get involved in our community in a different way. They coach little league and youth soccer, they feed the hungry, they serve far more than I do in their church, they organize food drives, they spend hours fixing a friends car in their own garage because they know the friend can’t afford to take it to a shop, they are the band boosters, they are my neighbors and friends and we all contribute to the fabric of our community.
Regards,
Kathryn Simpson
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Kathryn:
I know better than to say always and never. Sorry about that.
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Your score with me just went up, Larry.
Regards,
Kathryn Simpson
November 24th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Well said, Kathryn…
“get involved in our community in a different way”
…and these contributions make our world go around…the neighbor who, in power outages, takes a generator around the neighborhood to those he/she knows needs the power and can’t do it for themselves. These people and more are the unknown, unsung, ‘hero’ of community life in a neighborhood.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
There are as many ways to serve as the individuals who exist. And sometimes one can be even more effective behind the scenes, which is why it is often said that government is run by interests well beyond elected leadership.
As for my test score, well…